Trinity Mirror will implement a company-wide pay freeze, the Times Online reported Wednesday. Chief Executive Sly Bailey also announced that no bonuses will be given for 2008, as the publisher's profit objectives were not achieved.

However, the UK publishing group plans to launch a “special 2009 incentive scheme” that entitles all workers to receive a bonus of up to £1,000, Bailey added.

A company spokesman told the Times Online that Trinity Mirror's top priority is to preserve the group's future, and to do that, costs must be cut through “a range of actions,” including cutting almost 1,200 jobs and closing 44 titles.

In response to plunging advertising revenues and an augmented debt, the group's newspaper the Daily Mirror announced plans to slash costs by £20 million in 2009, according to the Times Online. As the move includes a cost-cutting solution, job cuts will be inevitable.

Trinity Mirror's revenues declined by 11.4 percent in the 17 weeks leading to October 26, while advertising revenues dropped by 19.4 percent. The company's circulation, meanwhile, fell by 5 percent.

The publisher has already shut down 17 titles since the end of June, including the Derby Trader and Formby Times. In total, there have been 28 closures since the start of 2008.

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